GroundPorkis the first collection of poetry to be released by Thomas Porky McDonald.¿ Containing the first five poem books writtenby McDonald, whose work is often defined by his depictions of the world ofbaseball, Ground Pork gives aninsight into the poet's earliest verses. Conceived from 1989 through early1994, the innocence of his first two works, Second...toVerse...Baseball Poems, and some other stuff and Eternal Postcards, does leave the reader with an anticipation ofthe more centered and powerful verses to come. Signature pieces 'The ParkThat Isn't There ' and 'Queensbridge', (from Second to Verse)and 'Once' and 'Skipper's Song', (from Eternal Postcards)display a depth that only grows in books three through five.SomeCame Lost, which was written just before a time of great turmoil forMcDonald, reflects back to the 20s of a man crossing into his 30s, andemotionally bridges the initial offerings with books four and five. 'Justa Walk on Flatbush Avenue' and 'Someday Demolition Men' inparticular, release a part of the soul of this self-styled 'RamblePoet'.Fugitivein your Face (poetry in Exile) and OutHere in...Crazyland the fourth and fifth books in this collection, weredriven out from March through September of 1994, while the writer facedsuspension and expulsion from work. This time also included an arrest, withcharges later dropped, stemming from a classic case of bureaucracy gone amok,and a positive drug screening following re-instatement into the workplace.Hence, the pieces 'Lonesome Majesty' and 'After CrashLanding' in Fugitive In Your Face,and 'Crazyland' and 'Loons' in Out Here in... Crazyland. In addition, the uncertainty of the timeproduced moments of memorable verse, such as 'Tall Girls Blessed WithGreasepaint' (Fugitive),'Rest Alive' and 'Where the Angels Bow to the Grass' (Crazyland). Ground Pork leaves off inlate 1994, from which the most prolific time of the poet's life would sooncommence. As such, it is a lasting insight into the very soul of a man w